


Less Love Triangles, More Threesomes

by aformofmotion



Category: Community
Genre: Experimental Style, Fake Dating, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-22
Updated: 2014-11-22
Packaged: 2018-02-26 14:31:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2655458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aformofmotion/pseuds/aformofmotion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Abed has a plan to stop Jeff, Annie, and Britta from being crushed under the weight of their own UST. It goes as well as anything ever does.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Less Love Triangles, More Threesomes

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to my tumblr about a year ago. I've been putzing around trying to convert it into actual "normal" fic format but it doesn't work as well that way so I've decided to leave it as it is.

so jeff and britta and annie are still doing the love triangle thing. you’d think it would have petered out by now, but they are masters of holding on to things long past the point where anyone else would have let it go, and it’s starting to spiral out of control in a truly Greendale fashion. there are kickstarters involved, and a mormon church lobbying for a ‘compromise’ in the cafeteria, and a vein in jeff’s forehead that looks like something out of a cartoon and can’t possibly be healthy.

so when abed suggests that he and troy pretend to start dating in order to take the pressure of the romantic subplot off the three of them, troy jumps onboard without thinking about how that never goes the way you expect it to on any sitcom _ever_.

so then it’s just a matter of execution, and they discover the first problem almost immediately: no one believes them. half the school already thought they were dating, and they don’t notice that anything has changed, and the other half are just as convinced that that’s just the way their friendship looks, and they _also_ don’t notice that anything has changed.

the second problem is the thing with the kissing, which is a thing that couples do and therefore a thing they have to do, for realisms sake if nothing else, but when abed brings it up troy’s eyes get so wide they nearly fall out of his face and abed says irritably, ‘this won’t work if you don’t cooperate. it’s not as if i’m asking you to make out with me, it’s just kissing’, and troy says ‘i’d totally make out with you’ all reassuring like, which is probably a sign but he doesn’t notice, and abed says ‘thank you, now here’s what i propose’, and outlines a system that’s slightly more elaborate than it really needs to be, because abed has a better sense of narrative timing than troy, but he doesn’t initiate anything unless he’s in character - and this a make believe relationship but it’s not that kind of make believe, you see.

but the first time abed gives him the signal, squeezing each of their intwined fingers one at a time, like a wave of pressure crashing across his hand, troy is a little bit surprised at the way his heart leaps in his chest, and he leans up and quickly kisses abed’s cheek to cover it up, and abed looks at him sideways and says ‘that isn’t what i meant’ in a voice pitched for his ears alone, and he mumbles ‘sorry’, and after that they manage to get it down and things go pretty smoothly, at least in terms of execution.

except that _still_ nobody believes them, no matter how much they kiss in public and hold hands in a different way than they always used to and snuggle up together on the couch and say ‘i love you’, because the step from where they actually are to where they’re pretending to be is, like, the smallest step imaginable. and so despite the butterflies it’s putting in troy’s stomach, it isn’t working. it isn’t taking any pressure off of jeff and annie and britta, who are going to spontaneously combust with their collective UST any day now.

and then one day abed says ‘i think we should break up’ and troy has this minute of blind panic before he remembers that they aren’t really dating, and a break up is totally more drama than a get together anyway, so that should work, and then jeff and annie and britta can get their act together and everything can go back to normal and he can stop feeling all confused about how he feels about abed.

so they have this big, public, scripted-by-abed fight and are finished fake-dating. now they’re fake-broken-up and it’s the kind of breakup where they have to fake not being able to stand each other, and the whole school gets involved — there may or may not be a ‘fix trobed’ rally with a better attendance rate than any of britta’s causes — and as far as the plan is concerned it’s a smashing success.

but it also _hurts_ , because they have to keep it up _all the time_ , because they live with annie and they can’t just break character when they get home, so they don’t ever get a break from pretending to hate each other. so for realisms sake they take turns sleeping on the couch, and for actual real troy cries himself to sleep every night, and this goes on for about a week, because jeff and britta and annie are kinda slow.

and then one day annie and britta and jeff come into the study room looking _happy_ , and wearing the ribbons the mormon church had been handing out before they lost their space to the rally, and abed tilts his head and flicks his finger between the three of them, and shirley says ‘really, jeffrey?’ and jeff doesn’t look embarassed so much as _guilty_ (and a little bit proud of himself), and annie beams, and britta doesn’t even look angry at all.

and abed looks at troy and says ‘and that’s a wrap’ and troy throws himself around the corner of the table and wraps his arms around abed’s middle and bursts into tears, which absolutely everyone is surprised by, even abed who mostly understands and pets troys shoulder awkwardly and explains to the rest of them that he and troy pretended to date and break up to give britta and annie and jeff the chance to work themselves out in peace.

and then annie feels really guilty for putting them through that, and britta says ‘oh my god’ and feels guilty because she’s britta, and jeff doesn’t feel guilty so much as embarassed (and a little bit proud of them), and meanwhile troy is just sobbing into abed’s shirt.

and then when the rest of the group leave to go to class, abed stays and lets troy cling to him, and a few students who aren’t in classes stop to stare at them through the windows for a minute before moving on, because nobody thought to close the blinds on their way out, and after troy has been finished crying for a while and even the sniffling has mostly stopped, abed asks ‘are you going to let go of me?’ and troy says ‘i don’t know’ and then ‘i thought i’d be less confused when it was over’, and abed says ‘what are you confused about?’ even though he pretty much already knows because he always knows what troy is thinking.

and so troy tells him about the butterflies and the panic and all the little things he liked about fake-dating abed, and when he’s finished abed says ‘i don’t think you’re confused’ and then, ‘do you want to kiss me for real?’ and troy says ‘maybe’ all soft and small like he hadn’t even thought of that, and abed nods even though troy can’t see it and says ‘i think you have to let go first’.

and so troy does and then there’s kissing and it’s not confusing at all, and still nobody notices when they start dating for real, because why would they.


End file.
